1. My hometown’s orgasmic apple cider donuts

There is nothing I love more than junk food disguising itself as semi-healthy fruit desserts. Apple cider donuts top my list. I love nothing more than a fresh, warm, crispy-on-the-outside, gooey on the inside, sugar-coated apple cider donut. The bakery in my town has an orchard attached and you can watch them make the donuts and press their own apple cider. It wouldn’t be fall without that glorious white cardboard box from heaven. All I can hope is that my mom finds a way to vacuum pack them to mail to me.

2. The equally as orgasmic pie from the same bakery

I love pie. I love pie more than my boyfriend (sorry, Jeff). I love all pies; I don’t discriminate. I love apple and blueberry and strawberry rhubarb and lemon meringue and coconut cream and chocolate cream and pumpkin and pecan. There is no such thing as bad pie, but there is such a thing as a life-changing pie and the apple berry pie from Beardsley Cider Mill and Orchard. I can easily eat an entire one of those pies. I don’t know if I can wait until Thanksgiving to dig my fork into a slice of my favorite pie. I think it’s safe to say that the Freshmen 15 comes entirely from the foods you eat when you come home.

3. Picking pumpkins at the local family farm

No season is as beautiful as autumn. The colors, the temperature, the foliage and flora of fall are incomparable. Going to the farm and picking out my own pumpkins for jack o’ lanterns has been one of my favorite things to do since I was little. I make it a point to find the biggest pumpkin and make my dad lug it back to the car; it’s tradition. Helping my mom decorate and put guards on the mantle and make the Thanksgiving centerpiece is something I can’t bear to miss out on this year.

4. Watching my dog play in leaves

As I have previously mentioned, my dog is my best friend. She may be twelve years old but she has the attitude of a puppy. Nothing brings me more joy than watching her frolic and run through leaves like a little kid. She lies down in the pile I just raked and has this smug look of satisfaction on her face. I think she likes the sound they make when she runs through them like a mad man. It doesn’t matter her dog reasoning but it is pretty freaking adorable and I will miss watching her do that.

5. Football Games

Yeah, sure, college football games and tailgates and giant stadiums are fun, but there’s something to be said about those Friday night lights. I’m not even much of a football fan, but it was the atmosphere of a high school football game: knowing all the team players, the student section, the matching t-shirts, that one girl who always sings the anthem a little off-key. Standing with friends, trying to shield ourselves from the unseasonably cold October chill, and then going to the local diner after the fourth quarter may have seemed awful and small-town while I was here, but now I miss it terribly and would do anything to have those easy nights back.

6. Haunted Hayrides

Tiny New England towns really take pride in our tiny New England tree farms. And one thing tiny New England tree farms do pretty well are haunted hayrides. In middle school, they were all the rage. Waiting for the hours-long line pretending your Uggs were keeping you warm and trying to flip your poorly straightened hair in an attractive way so that boy from homeroom would notice you was the only thing to do on a Saturday night. Now, as an Almost-Adult, I would only go on a haunted hayride in an ironic, nostalgic way. Also, because I love sitting on slightly damp bales of hay while pimply pre-teens in clown masks get in my personal space. Who doesn’t?

7. A warm pumpkin spice latte on my way to school

Much like the actual sport of football, I’m not particularly fond of pumpkin spice lattes, mostly because they are too sweet and don’t actually taste like pumpkin. But, in a time-honored tradition of common white girls everywhere, I have to partake in the seasonal drink. There’s something very exciting about buying a coffee at the crack of dawn and holding it proudly in the hallways, making sure everyone knew I had my life together enough to get up fifteen minutes earlier than usual. Sure, I can get a PSL on my college campus easily enough, but it doesn’t come with the same bragging rights.